The present invention relates to cleats for athletic shoes, and particularly baseball cleats.
A problem for sporting goods retailers is that there are many different types of cleats. The cleats are typically removably mounted in a recess in the sole of a baseball shoe being held in place with a retaining screw that extends through a circular retainer hole in the cleat into a threaded opening in the recess. Manufacturers of baseball shoes, such as Nike, Easton, Adidas, and Reebok, each have their own proprietary cleat. These cleats differ in shape, sometimes have projections on the bottom, and have the retainer hole located in different places. Thus, the cleat of one manufacturer usually does not fit the shoe of a competitor.
This requires a retailer of baseball shoes to carry multiple different types of cleats. This creates inventory problems, and also leads to problems for the customer, because many times retailers do not have an adequate supply of the cleats from every manufacturer.
Attempts to carry just one type of cleat from one manufacturer have been unsuccessful because the cleats from one manufacturer generally do not fit into the recesses in the soles of the baseball shoes of another manufacturer. One reason for this is the belief that the cleats must snugly fit into the recess so that there is no wiggle, with the cleats retained firmly in place, even without the retaining screw.
Thus, from the retailer's and customers' standpoint, it would be desirable to have a universal cleat that could be used with the baseball shoes of multiple manufacturers.